![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Sam-Stone-Stones-Office.jpg\")
Sam Stone, Stone’s Office Equipment<\/p><\/div>\n
The president of Stone\u2019s Office Equipment (SOE) in Richmond, VA, has cultivated a work environment that places faith in his team to do the right thing, without the need for a micromanaged executive approach. It allows Stone to focus on his job while enabling his employees to thrive without the pressure of someone looking over their shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do things differently and we\u2019re not afraid to try things, either,\u201d said Stone, a 2018 ENX Magazine<\/em> Difference Maker. \u201cI want my team to be able to think for themselves and learn from past experiences, without the need for a leadership team telling them what to do. My approach is much more hands-off and to trust the people who surround you. It\u2019s created a culture within our company of less stress on making mistakes and more on trusting. We\u2019re a family and you have to trust your family to do what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n For Stone, the office equipment industry is all about developing deep, long-lasting relationships with employees, clients and other business and community partners. Finding ways to make the challenges of SOE\u2019s clients less taxing and stressful is one of the most enjoyable aspects of Stone\u2019s work; he fully credits and appreciates the efforts of SOE\u2019s crew in making that a reality.<\/p>\n As SOE was founded by his father, Frank, Sam Stone\u2019s indoctrination into the office equipment industry began at age 12, when he would shampoo cases of typewriters and clean the typeset keys. (His first suitcase was actually a carrying case from a Smith-Corona portable typewriter.) Upon graduating from school, Stone scored his first sale\u2014a Casio desktop calculator for the princely sum of $129. As a testament to his relationship building, Stone later sold that same client a typewriter, fax machine, word processor and a copier.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, Frank Stone played a large role in shaping his son\u2019s business approach. The elder Stone had no money in his savings when he launched SOE, but was certainly resourceful, especially when it came to business acumen.<\/p>\n SOE is coming off a year in which it was named a finalist in the Retail Merchants Association\u2019s Distinguished Retailer of the Year for Richmond. Stone\u2019s also netted Elite Dealer recognition from ENX Magazine for the third consecutive year. Stone is working toward creating an IT department for existing business clients and hopes to carve out more time for community service and charity events.<\/p>\n Stone definitely has a passion for supporting the local community and backing charitable causes. Some of the organizations SOE has supported include the Ashland Police Foundation, The Jillian Fund, The Cameron Gallagher Fund, the Virginia State Police Foundation and the Henrico Police and Fire Foundations. Last month, SOE hosted The Ride of the Patriots, a cross-country trek to Washington, DC.<\/p>\n Moving forward, Stone hopes to build upon SOE\u2019s foundation by staying grounded in the company\u2019s core beliefs and values while gauging its process and ensuring the dealership keeps abreast of technology. \u201cJust because something new comes about, doesn\u2019t mean it makes an improvement,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to see how those improvements impact your company culture. Our clients choose to work with us because of our culture and we don\u2019t want to start making vast changes in the name of improving if it\u2019s not what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n Underscoring the family atmosphere at SOE, Stone\u2019s mother, Sally, works for the company, along with his sister, Tina Berry, and her husband, Mike.<\/p>\n Stone and his wife, Kerrie, have been married 27 years and have three children\u2014Carson, Libbie and Matthew. An avid outdoorsman who enjoys golfing and mountain biking, Stone also loves the water and his family can usually be found vacationing at any beach along the Carolina coastline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Creating a work atmosphere based on trust and autonomy can be difficult to achieve. It requires a degree of faith on the behalf of management, and assembling a team of employees who are like-minded when it comes to the goals of the dealership. But Sam Stone wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. The president of Stone\u2019s Office Equipment (SOE) in Richmond, VA, has cultivated a work environment that places faith in his team to do the right thing, without the need for a micromanaged executive approach. It allows Stone to focus on his job while enabling his employees to thrive without the pressure of someone looking over their shoulders. \u201cWe do things differently and we\u2019re not afraid to try things, either,\u201d said Stone, a 2018 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. \u201cI want my team to be able to think for themselves and learn from past experiences, without the need for a leadership team telling them what to do. My approach is much more hands-off and to trust the people who surround you. It\u2019s created a culture within our company of less stress on making mistakes and more on trusting. We\u2019re a family and you have to trust your family to do what\u2019s right.\u201d For Stone, the office equipment industry is all about developing deep, long-lasting relationships with employees, clients and other business and community partners. Finding ways to make the challenges of SOE\u2019s clients less taxing and stressful is one of the most enjoyable aspects of Stone\u2019s work; he fully credits and appreciates the efforts of SOE\u2019s crew in making that a reality. As SOE was founded by his father, Frank, Sam Stone\u2019s indoctrination into the office equipment industry began at age 12, when he would shampoo cases of typewriters and clean the typeset keys. (His first suitcase was actually a carrying case from a Smith-Corona portable typewriter.) Upon graduating from school, Stone scored his first sale\u2014a Casio desktop calculator for the princely sum of $129. As a testament to his relationship building, Stone later sold that same client a typewriter, fax machine, word processor and a copier. Not surprisingly, Frank Stone played a large role in shaping his son\u2019s business approach. The elder Stone had no money in his savings when he launched SOE, but was certainly resourceful, especially when it came to business acumen. \u201cHe taught me how to treat people\u2014employees and customers\u2014and his favorite saying was \u2018service sells,\u2019\u201d Stone said. \u201cHe instilled in me the notion that anyone can sell someone something; however, it takes work to earn their trust over and over again. That\u2019s something I hold very dearly in my approach to working with our team. Just getting a customer isn\u2019t enough. You\u2019ve earned their business through earning trust, and it\u2019s our job to continue to earn it every day.\u201d SOE is coming off a year in which it was named a finalist in the Retail Merchants Association\u2019s Distinguished Retailer of the Year for Richmond. Stone\u2019s also netted Elite Dealer recognition from ENX Magazine for the third consecutive year. Stone is working toward creating an IT department for existing business clients and hopes to carve out more time for community service and charity events. Stone definitely has a passion for supporting the local community and backing charitable causes. Some of the organizations SOE has supported include the Ashland Police Foundation, The Jillian Fund, The Cameron Gallagher Fund, the Virginia State Police Foundation and the Henrico Police and Fire Foundations. Last month, SOE hosted The Ride of the Patriots, a cross-country trek to Washington, DC. Moving forward, Stone hopes to build upon SOE\u2019s foundation by staying grounded in the company\u2019s core beliefs and values while gauging its process and ensuring the dealership keeps abreast of technology. \u201cJust because something new comes about, doesn\u2019t mean it makes an improvement,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to see how those improvements impact your company culture. Our clients choose to work with us because of our culture and we don\u2019t want to start making vast changes in the name of improving if it\u2019s not what they want.\u201d Underscoring the family atmosphere at SOE, Stone\u2019s mother, Sally, works for the company, along with his sister, Tina Berry, and her husband, Mike. Stone and his wife, Kerrie, have been married 27 years and have three children\u2014Carson, Libbie and Matthew. An avid outdoorsman who enjoys golfing and mountain biking, Stone also loves the water and his family can usually be found vacationing at any beach along the Carolina coastline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":29130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[79,1650,82,84,1638],"tags":[3436],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29774,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29741\/revisions\/29774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Difference-Makers-2018-2-300x300.jpg\")
\u201cHe taught me how to treat people\u2014employees and customers\u2014and his favorite saying was \u2018service sells,\u2019\u201d Stone said. \u201cHe instilled in me the notion that anyone can sell someone something; however, it takes work to earn their trust over and over again. That\u2019s something I hold very dearly in my approach to working with our team. Just getting a customer isn\u2019t enough. You\u2019ve earned their business through earning trust, and it\u2019s our job to continue to earn it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n